This invention relates to a vehicle information acquisition and display assembly and more particularly to an assembly for use within a vehicle, which is adapted to selectively and automatically create and/or define a xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d, and which is further adapted to selectively acquire and display information relating to and/or representing certain objects located within the created and/or defined xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d.
It is desirable to provide a driver of a vehicle with some information associated with, representing, and/or describing a portion of the area surrounding the vehicle or the xe2x80x9cenvironmentxe2x80x9d in which the vehicle is disposed within, thereby identifying potential threats, objects, and/or hazards to the driver and significantly improving the driver""s ability to avoid an accident or other misfortune.
Some efforts have been previously made to improve the driver""s awareness or knowledge of the vehicle""s environment. Particularly, these prior efforts include providing and selectively installing xe2x80x9cvision aiding devicesxe2x80x9d such as mirrors, lights, or windows upon the vehicle, in order to improve the driver""s range of vision. These devices and/or assemblies provide the driver with information concerning only a rather limited portion of the vehicle environment and often include a number of undesirable xe2x80x9cblind spotsxe2x80x9d or areas for which no information or image is provided.
Another prior method or technique of increasing the driver""s awareness or knowledge of the area proximate to the vehicle (or of the vehicle""s environment) requires the installation of a number of sensors upon and/or within the vehicle. Particularly, these selectively installed sensors provide certain information to the driver and warn the driver if the vehicle is close to contacting an object (e.g., if the vehicle is about to xe2x80x9cback intoxe2x80x9d the object).
The reduction in the overall cost of these sensors has allowed and/or has motivated vehicle manufacturers to use these sensors more extensively within and/or upon their respectively produced vehicles. Examples of such sensors include radar, laser, ultrasound, and/or infrared sensors and/or a conventional and commercially available camera. While the increased use of these sensors has indeed allowed the driver to gain a more complete view of some portion of or all of the area immediately and/or proximately surrounding the vehicle, such use has also undesirably increased the danger or the probability of the driver becoming undesirably xe2x80x9coverloadedxe2x80x9d with the provided information.
Particularly, the relatively large number of sensors used in certain vehicles often and undesirably xe2x80x9cbombardsxe2x80x9d and/or confuses the driver with an overabundance of substantially xe2x80x9creal-timexe2x80x9d information, including much information that has little or no relevance or importance to the driver (e.g., images of stationary objects which are remotely located from the vehicle). This driver xe2x80x9cinformation overloadxe2x80x9d decreases the ability of the driver to discern information which is truly useful to the driver or which describes potential or imminent hazards; the truly relevant or important information being xe2x80x9clostxe2x80x9d or obscured by all of the other data or information which is substantially and simultaneously presented to the driver. This driver xe2x80x9cinformation overloadxe2x80x9d also increases the probability of a collision due to the great amount of time needed by the driver to decipher or review all of the provided information, thereby substantially preventing or hindering the driver from attending to and/or concentrating xe2x80x9con the roadxe2x80x9d and on the task of safely maneuvering the vehicle.
These prior techniques and/or assemblies also are generally xe2x80x9cstaticxe2x80x9d. That is, the monitored portion of the vehicle environment or area proximately surrounding the vehicle is typically xe2x80x9cfixedxe2x80x9d and static, and not readily susceptible to change or modification. Hence, these prior techniques and/or assemblies were not and are not xe2x80x9cdynamically configurablexe2x80x9d, in that their respective monitored area or portion of the vehicle environment is not and was not automatically and/or dynamically modified to suit the ever-changing needs of the driver, based upon certain driving conditions and/or vehicle attributes. For example, a driver controlling a vehicle which is travelling upon a highway at a speed of 70 miles per hour has different informational needs than the driver does when turning the vehicle at about 10 miles per hour. Hence, these prior techniques and/or assemblies were not very useful in many instances.
There is therefore a need for a vehicle information system which acquires and provides sufficient information related to the vehicle""s environment to adequately assist the driver to avoid a collision without xe2x80x9coverloadingxe2x80x9d the driver with extraneous, non-relevant and/or xe2x80x9cnon-helpfulxe2x80x9d types of information. There is a further need for a vehicle information system which selectively creates a dynamically configurable monitored area which provides relevant information to the driver concerning and/or representing objects residing within this dynamically configurable area.
It is a first object of the invention to provide a vehicle information assembly which overcomes many, if not all, of the previously delineated drawbacks of such prior systems, devices, techniques, and/or methods.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a vehicle information assembly for use with a vehicle and which is adapted to create a dynamically configurable xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d, to acquire information associated with and/or describing objects which reside within the created xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d, and which selectively displays some of the acquired information which the system considers to be relevant and useful to the vehicle driver.
It is a third object of the invention to provide a vehicle information assembly which is adapted to acquire information describing the environment within which the vehicle resides, which xe2x80x9cpre-screensxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cfiltersxe2x80x9d this acquired information by use of certain xe2x80x9crelevance criteriaxe2x80x9d and which selectively creates icons and/or symbols which are selectively displayed to the driver by use of the certain xe2x80x9crelevance criteriaxe2x80x9d.
It is a fourth object of the intention to provide a vehicle information assembly for use by a driver of a vehicle and which selectively presents relevant information regarding and/or relating to the area surrounding the vehicle in a substantially clear and substantially unambiguous graphical form.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a vehicle display assembly for use within a vehicle is provided. The vehicle is selectively driven in proximity to at least one object. The display assembly includes at least one sensor which senses the at least one object and which provides an output signal having a certain value; and a processor which is coupled to the at least one sensor, which contains at least one object criteria value, which receives the output signal, and which compares the certain value of the output signal to the at least one object criteria value and, based upon the comparison, which selectively generates and displays at least one icon representing the at least one object.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a method of displaying information related to an object located in proximity to a vehicle is provided. The vehicle is selectively travelling at a certain speed and at a certain direction. The method includes the steps of providing at least one sensor which measures the speed and direction of the vehicle; providing a controller for selectively creating a xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d around the vehicle based upon the measured speed and the direction of the vehicle; providing at least one sensor for measuring the location of the object and for measuring the size of the object; determining whether the object resides within the xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d; providing an icon; and displaying the icon only if the object resides within the xe2x80x9cregion of interestxe2x80x9d.
Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.